.....times of refreshing.....

I had a good day today, all thanks to my consecutive workouts and badminton for the past three days. I guess the feel good hormone was maintained in my system for the entire day today as I was feeling good, calm, sharp and enjoy the every moments of the day. Well, that's also the reason I can't do without exercise, even though I stilll had a tummy.... thanks to food. :P

I will be on leave tomorrow and it will be a long weekend for me. Just had a simple Japanese dinner with my niece here in Singapore at Men-ichi Ramen Northpoint,  and I ordered a mini platter of sashimi again. It's good enough to last me for the evening, with a bowl of rice.

Love the sashimi!

By the way, I wonder what fish is the white meat, which was quite crunchy. Any idea ? Have a good weekend and exercise, cos it makes you feel good!

Last week was really a terrible week to be in Singapore. The haze climbed to an all time high of 401 PSI on a Friday afternoon and while driving out to lunch , I can see the entire town like shrouded with smoke with a bad visibility on the road. All of us seems like making it compulsory to wear a mask while going out, even just to get a coffee downstairs at the building's canteen. The days leading up to last Friday was kinda disturbing too! I remember before I went in for a game of badminton on a Wednesday evening, the psi was below 200. After two hours, it became 290! Luckily my company supplied us with N95 mask which makes our life better. I have been smelling burning woods the entire week while going to bed!

It's like an highland out there!

Yours truly, not terrorist!

Due to the smog, most of the time I had my lunch indoors. On one particular Thursday evening, the indoor food court was so crowded that I have no choice but to give myself an excuse to have a nice bowl of ramen at a Japanese restaurant. Really no choice but to eat expensive ... :P

yummy.... delicious Miso ramen to pacify the traumatic me due to the haze :P

Talking about the inconvenience of eating outside, I have some information to share.  One of my friends recommended me to log in to Foodpanda website, he told me that this online food delivery service suits me pretty well.  After a hard day's work, all I need to do is some clicks on their website here and choose the mouth-watering food from a wide range of restaurants.  After that, I can just sit back and relax... and the food will arrive steaming hot in no time! 

 Great information, right?

I can't seems to get enough of bak kut teh and I had another one today, after having one last Monday. It was a real hot day while we folks at the south waiting for the rain to come, a real heavy rain and thuderstorm to ease the haze as well as to cool down the climate. It was also not a good idea to have something hot during lunch but then, the taste bud always rules over the mind! LOL Luckily, we sat under the fan and it's was not that bad.

Getting ready .... with garlic and sauce

camwhore with my little princess first...

Look at the crowd! It's a hot day but everybody don't mind having warm food!

Claypot Wine Chicken ... somehow I prefer this 'secondary' dish to the main dish, BKT

dried tofu and salty vegetables

And here's the BKT, each person one bowl. Love it!

That winds up a great morning after church! :)

I posted a blog last week that  I have entered a photo contest for photos taken at a certain organic park. Yesterday, the park emailed me that my picture has been shortlisted for the photo contest. I was both excited and frustrated. Why I felt frustrated is because the contest is based on the no.of likes in facebook for the photo instead of neutral judging by a panel. With that, instead of quitting, I thought I give it a try for the first few days by soliciting votes on fb and see how it goes, as I heard a lot of bad experiences with this method of voting process.

Thus, see if you can help it increase by vote count. Just do it by clicking on this link and like the picture. Secondly, like this page, Zenxin Organic Park page on facebook too. (You can removed it after 15 July if you want ... LOL).

Thanks for supporting ! :)

While on the way back from Seremban last Sunday for Father's Day celebration, my family and I decided to  stop-by the Foochow rich town of Johor, Yong Peng, for a simple dinner. Initially, we wanted to go the well known corner lot coffee shop (before turning to the NE highway), Hock Swee Hin restaurant, but they are closing around 9pm. Thus, we settled at Old Street Restaurant, located near the interchange to the NE highway. It was just a simple meal to fill our stomach.

Pork ribs 'king' - Sour but appetising. The meat was crunchy!

A healthy vegetables

The famous 'foochow' soup. -- My favourite too, put some vinegar in it and it's real good!

Their famous tofu. It's soft and delicious.

We are on our way back to JB after a simple dinner.

It was a hazy Monday yesterday and  the weather was humid and hot! Anyway, that doesn't deterred us from enjoying the famous Soon Huat bak kut teh at Taman Sentosa in JB. After fetching my little princess from kindie as well as sending my son off to school, we reached a crowded and hot coffee shop. It was really a queue there and getting a seat at the 'oven-hot' eatery was not easy. It was a long wait for the food and I was sweating profusely!! However, once the food was served, the wait was worth the while.

Claypot chicken with ginger and wine -- The chicken meat absorbed the wine and ginger gravy, which makes it so delicious.

The well--known Soon Huat claypot Bak Kut Teh.

Yes, I know it's Monday but the good news is I am on leave today. :) So, while the folks are waking up early to go to work, my weekend extended for another day. hehehe.... Not to be mean here, here's three of my favourite macro shots taken at the Gardens by the Bay to brightens up your day and lift up your blues!!

My all time favourite pink rose!

I simply love this one!

Did you see the face?

Happy Monday folks and have a joyful and blissful day!

When I was in Zenxin Organic Park two weeks ago, I saw a poster on a photo contest where they will choose winners of pictures taken at the park. Since I brought my DSLR, I decided to give it a try and took as many photos as I can, so that I can pick a good one for the contest. After running through  the pictures, somehow I decided to enter this picture for it. I felt it's very natural and relax, as well as contained the spontaneity of a little child. Thus, hopefully it can win me something, though the prizes are not that attractive compared to other photo contests but then, it's just for fun. What do you think? I have already submitted my entry.

After I had a char kway teow last Saturday, I seems to yearn for another plate these few days. Well, maybe I was trying to be on diet and didn't had it till recently. The plate I had (below) was okay but it makes me drooled about the char kway teow I had in Kulai months ago, at a humble coffee shop.

oh...when I posted this pix, I really need a fix now! See how beautiful are the noodles!

Coffee with kaya toasts - always remains my favourite

Yeah, I also yearns for kaya toasts with good hainanese coffee. It's very hard to find these type of toasts in Singapore. I will have to go back to JB for it. Luckily, weekend is approaching..... phew!

I was feeling kinda mentally and physically tired today, with the latter due to two consecutive days of running and the former due to lack of sleep. Thus, I decided to skip workout tonight. I went straight to a Japanese Ramen restaurant at a shopping centre near my place and order a miso ramen, chawanmushi and a hot green tea. The meal was refreshing enough and I felt much alive after that. I wonder is it I am hungry or the ramen and chawanmushi were good ?

Anyway, I love ramen!

Miso tonkatsu ramen

This is the first time I tried Old Town's tea sets though its been around for some time. I thought it's a good idea, to serve small portions of noodles during tea so that it's not so full but still enjoyed the food. Anyway, depending on the branches, I still find their coffee is one of the best around town.

Steamed toast with kaya & butter and coffee  - My whole family love the fresh soft toasts with the kaya. It's was  so delicious.

My wife had a curry laksa. The bowl was smaller compare to the usual size.

I had a bowl of Asam Laksa. It's also a small bowl and I long wanting for more... !!

Overall, quite a good idea! It came with a drink which I ordered coffee, of course. This refreshes us to continued to shop and run our errands.

Two insects with a 'face' clinging on to a ...err... petal? Don't know what  is that... hehe

Nice...it didn't fly away.... I guess this 'petal' must be delicious!

The last picture here are actually those morning glories growing on the fences and one look at it, there's   nothing really special. However, when zoom closer to it, to me, they looked like papers origami in purple. When I posted this on picture on instagram, I titled it 'be humble and you look good'. Don't you agreed?

I really thought it's a good idea to bring the kids closer to nature and Zenxin Organic Park in Kluang, which is kids' friendly, was a good choice! My kid was asking me to bring him there to join the short tour around the park and I thought why not, as I only needed to spend around  RM5-8 for the tour for each person. It's so much cheaper compared to those theme parks. :P  My little princess was given free access too. And, walking around under the sun and seeing the greens are way much better than seeing whatever on the ipad.

The kids really enjoyed themselves there as  they got goodies bags,free ice-creams, running around without worried about vehicles, cycling, get themselves sweaty and dirty, beautiful scenery, free snacks as well as get to feed bunnies and fishes. As for adults, it's kinda relaxing getaway and we really  got closer to nature. Though the weather was hot,  I had a great time over there. I have been there for many times to shop but didn't really went inside the farm.

The entrance of the park

My little princess getting ready

Both bro and sis posing for me at the farm. Love the flowers on the left and right.

It's really a Happy Farm

She really enjoyed herself!

Caught this chameleon directly on my lens..hehehe

The dark mushroom house

Growing mushrooms here

My kid was amazed by the greenhouse!

while my little princess express herself ....

Now...the excitement ..... bunnies!

They really loved the furry cuties

She's not even afraid of them at the first sight...

Too busy  feeding the 50-60 over bunnies at the farm. They are so cute!

She's real busy there

My favourite pic! :)